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I was going to write about the copy-bon I bought at C77, but then I realized that no one is actually interested in that. On the other hand, a small handful of people are interested in Garo, so I felt that it’d be a better use of my time to write up another year of Garo information! If you missed my post on Garo’s 1964 issues (I don’t blame you, it was almost 8 months ago), it can be found here. Once again, names will be in the format of Lastname Firstname, and individual stories in each issue will be listed as Author, “Story”. Also once again, many thanks go out to Shiraishi-san for allowing me to draw from his Garo index, though his site currently appears to be offline. I am fairly sure that the works listed under each month are not listed in the order which they appear in the magazine, but the order they appear in the table of contents on the back side of the front cover.

Notes:
Okamoto Satsuko is the younger sister of Shirato Sanpei. She was also responsible for illustrations in “Douwa: mo Kichi” in the magazine’s first issue, a work written by Ri Haruko, Shirato’s wife.
“Nihon Ninpou-den” is a series of illustrated historical essays focused on portraying history from the common person’s perspective. Perhaps inspired by the ninja-heavy content of the magazine, the author states that the essays will be about “ninjas,” though he defines a “ninja” as an individual who works behind the scenes in order to move history, and goes on to say that it is possible for just one person to change history. This inaugural essay also discusses the Kennedy assassination, stating that the Warren Commission is a “big lie,” and implies that American gas corporations were responsible for Kennedy’s death, as his goals of peace in Vietnam would cut into their profits. As the magazine is still primarily focused towards younger readers, the essay is written in language easy for an elementary-school student to understand.
The reader’s corner includes a letter from a middle school student complaining that he is made fun of for reading manga at such an old age.
The editor’s corner introduces “Nihon Ninpou-den” as a work that has a new way of looking at history, then encourages magazine readers to read the articles, even if they don’t like history.

Notes: “Meyasu-bako” is a serialized column beginning in this issue where various authors would contribute essays, normally political in nature. This issue warns children to not drink the powdered skim milk given to them at school due to the discovery of high levels of strontium-90 in powdered school milk.

Notes: “Meyasubako” is a continuation of last issue, blaming capitalism and the relentless pursuit of profit for the presence of strontium in school milk. The author encourages readers to not believe their teachers, as he states that they will be fired if they don’t try to make their students drink powdered milk. Wakagusa Manpo (I believe, my notes are unclear) picks up on this theme and encourages schoolchildren’s mothers to protest this situation.
A note in the margins of a page in this issue urged Tsuge Yoshiharu and Kuki Makoto to contact the magazine ASAP.
First issue to break 170 pages.

Notes: “Mokugekisha” identifies itself as a work by the Gekiga Shudan, a group of gekiga creators.
This issue’s “Rotarii” is an essay titled “Manga and Gum,” where the author argues that manga needs to be a product more like gum in that it is enjoyed by children and adults alike. The author then goes on to say that in order for this to happen, there first must be more manga for adults, like the works that appear in Garo.
This essay is followed by an open call for works to be published in the magazine. The first guideline given for submitted works is that they “must be interesting.” Shirato also makes an appeal here, calling on authors to submit their work so that new talent can be found and fostered. Shirato says that a submitted work’s content, not art, is most important, as art can be improved later.

Notes: Tsuge Yoshiharu’s debut issue. As was the case with many manga authors at the time, his address is listed in the margins.
Beginning with this issue Mizuki Shigeru’s spot in the magazine is moved from its normal placement, the comic immediately following “Kamui-den,” to the very back of the magazine. This becomes Mizuki’s regular space, meaning that the magazine is bookended by Shirato in the front and Mizuki in the back.

Notes:
Kaji Issei (possible misromanization) is a pen name used by Hiroshi Hirata, best known in America as the author of Satsuma Gishiden.
Published letters from readers are from markedly older readers beginning around this issue, such as a student studying economics and Marx at Kyoto University who writes in for this issue to voice his love of Sanpei Shirato.

Notes: “Rotarii” is placed towards the front of this issue and discusses the debates over history textbook approval and Japanese historical revisionism.
While a large number of works are still samurai and ninja-themed, manga about war, specifically the Vietnam war and the social movements surrounding the war, are becoming more prevalant around this time, especially from newer authors such as Hoshikawa.

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on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 11:53 pm by kransom and is filed under manga, translation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Hi kransom. Thanks for posting this entry on the Garo index. I’d seen your earlier entry for 1964, but I couldn’t locate this one on 1965 when I was searching for it a few days ago. I may have been looking just before this got posted. Are all of the above notes from Shiraishi-san as well, or are they yours? Fascinating, I didn’t realizing that Satsuko Okamoto was related to Sanpei Shirato.

Hey Curtis – The notes here are ones I either jotted down to myself while going through the issues or notes that I found online. Hopefully I’ll get around to doing another year soon, but these always end up taking longer than I expect them to.